TENNESSEE HEAD COACH Buzz Peterson: "I knew our team would be excited about getting out and playing tonight, but I think we were a little overanxious on defense, particularly during the first half.

"Tusculum has fine shooters who could hit the ball deep. They have a good team that pushes it and plays hard. Overall, though, I did not think we had a solid defensive effort. We tried to do the things to correct the problems on defense, and we told them we'll bring them out and sit them next to the coaches if they did not play well on defense.

"Normally, we would take the day off tomorrow, but we're going to go back and work on defense Saturday. I just was not happy with our transition defense. There were a lot of positive signs out there for our team, including balanced scoring. Our guys can shoot pretty well.

"Tonight's game is a good learning experience, and we should be able to get a lot of good out of the film. It was a fast-paced game, because we were hitting really well from the outset."

TUSCULUM HEAD COACH DUGGAR BAUCOM: "I thought we played pretty well until the 10-minute mark of the second half. Then we quit making shots. Our energy waned, and we gave up a lot of easy baskets. The key to staying close was making some shots. When we did that, we had more energy on defense. When we made a mistake, they made us pay.

"This game is a confidence boost for us. We competed for 30 minutes against an SEC team. This will help us in our league. I knew Chris Lofton could shoot, and C.J. Watson can distribute the ball well. Tennessee has a lot of weapons.

"Bobby Ewing can shoot it, and he is a good passer. I was pleased with the way he played, 5-of-11 from 3-point range, and hated that he cooled off.

"Greg McIntosh can really fill out the stat line. He's unheralded and does the dirty work. He did a really good job with 11 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists."